Dar es Salaam - IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, moved swiftly to assist victims of a tragic road accident in Tanzania that occurred Thursday (29/03) around 16:30 local time, and took the lives of eight people—including one IOM team member, six refugees and one Tanzanian citizen, who was working alongside the roadway. Support to victims of the accident is being provided by the Government of Tanzania, as well as, the UN, including IOM, the UN Migration Agency, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and the World Food Programme (WFP).
 
Jamal Mohamud, an IOM employee acting as emergency coordinator at the site, said on Friday (30/03), "the accident happened during the transport of 515 Burundians undertaking voluntary return in a convoy of eight buses chartered by IOM."
 
The tragedy occurred at the Kilometer 9 location near Ngara town in Kagera Region on the highway leading to Tanzania’s border and involved two of the convoy’s eight buses. A total of 114 passengers were on board those two vehicles. Almost all of the survivors were treated for cuts and other minor injuries and discharged, Mohamud said, while 16 passengers suffering more extensive injuries were taken to a nearby hospital. The remaining survivors, including those passengers in the six undamaged buses, have gone to the government’s Lumasi Transit Center for food, shelter and counseling.
 
“It is clear that this accident—and the resulting deaths and injuries—is a major human tragedy,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, “one that requires us to continue to see that those injured receive urgent medical aid and that every effort be made to identify and handle with appropriate respect and dignity the bodies of the deceased. IOM will ensure that all possible support and assistance be given to all survivors and any next-of-kin, including psycho-social care for those in need of such.”
 
For more information, please contact Qasim Sufi, IOM Tanzania, Tel: +255 659 125 842, Email: qsufi@iom.int